Bilbray’s campaign hit back at Peters for what it characterized as an attempt to divert attention away from his abysmal record on financial issues while serving on the San Diego City Council.

On Friday, Peters continued to draw on the comparison after a downtown fundraiser headlined by House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer. He said Bilbray’s “extreme positions” on the budget and related women’s issues were out of step with the redrawn district.

“If you look at his record on these choice issues, on these women’s issues, even access to contraception, basic things that should have been decided 30 years ago, he’s right with Congressman Akin,” Peters said. “We are going to make sure that people understand that this is a really extreme view that he’s taken and that’s not representative of the district that we are running in.”

Akin has been under fire since appearing in a televised interview last weekend in which he said pregnancy “rarely” results from “legitimate rape.” His decision to remain in the Missouri Senate race against Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill has heaped pressure on Republicans, many of whom denounced his comments and urged him to step aside before it was too late.

Akin said he misspoke and apologized. But the misstep allowed Democrats to again seize on gender-gap politics as a possible path to winning control of the House and re-electing President Barack Obama.

A Bilbray campaign spokesman rebuffed Peters' attempt to drawn the Republican into the debate.

“It’s not surprising that Scott Peters would resort to this type of political stunt to distract voters from his record of negligence while presiding over San Diego's fiscal crisis as council president,” said the spokesman, Stephen Puetz. “The fact is Congressman Bilbray supports a woman's right to choose.”

On Thursday, the Peters campaign had pointed to similarities between the voting records of Bilbray and Akin on legislation affecting women’s health and welfare, including votes to potentially limit their access to reproductive care. Peters’ campaign spokesman noted Bilbray’s votes to defund Planned Parenthood in contending that he and Akin have voted together about 90 percent of the time over the last five years.

Bilbray did not support the original language of legislation co-sponsored by Akin and many House Republicans — The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act — that sought to narrow the definition of rape. That version would have limited the exception to cases of “forcible rape.”

The 52nd district race is among the most competitive in the nation and a key target for Democrats hoping to regain a majority. Hoyer, who has been campaigning for candidates all week in California, said he didn’t think there was a better congressional challenger in the country than Peters.

He described Bilbray as an enabler of a unproductive House.

“This is not about Brian Bilbray himself,” Hoyer said, noting the seven-term congressman’s support for a budget authored by Republican vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan. “It is about, however, Brian Bilbray being a part of a very negative leadership that has led the House of Representatives in the wrong direction and is sounding retreat.”

Peters, a port commissioner, has shown a positive performance and perspective, Hoyer said. “He understands economic development, growth and creation of jobs and that’s what we need in America to get our economy moving,” he said.

Peters’ fundraiser, which also featured Democratic Reps. Bob Filner and Susan Davis, raised more than $60,000. Bilbray has held two local fundraisers headlined by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.